


True Love Never Dies

by freckledandspectacled



Series: Nygmobblepot Week 2k17 [5]
Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Amnesia, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, First Kiss, Friends to Enemies to Lovers, Gun Violence, Happy Ending, Hypnotism, Kissing, Knives, M/M, Minor Violence, Soulmates, Temporary Amnesia, Unrequited Love, Violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-03-19
Updated: 2017-03-19
Packaged: 2018-10-07 14:18:26
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,361
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10362330
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freckledandspectacled/pseuds/freckledandspectacled
Summary: In a world in which one can never kill their soulmate, Edward Nygma has killed Oswald Cobblepot. Or at least, he thought he did.





	

**Author's Note:**

> This is so corny. Bear with me. No beta so bear that as well. These two are so entwined and fated this practically wrote itself.

Where Oswald wakes there is no light, there is no peace. They tell him he was murdered, he sees the scar on his stomach and believes it to be so.

They tell him they will help him be strong and defeat the man who did this to him, but he must listen and relax as they count down from five.

He listens.

He’s relaxed.

He was betrayed, they tell him. He was killed by his best friend, Edward Nygma. The name is unfamiliar, but it is important that he remembers because they tell him so. He is going to kill Edward Nygma.

He is going to kill Edward Nygma.

***

You can never kill your soulmate.

It’s the only fact of their world, the only universal truth.

You can hurt them, beat them, but you can never kill them. You will hesitate on the killing blow every time. It is a blessing. Even accidental deaths are unheard of. Chance and destiny see to it that it never happens.

When Edward Nygma holds Kristen Kringle against the door of his apartment he knows he’s hurting her, but that he isn’t killing her. She is his soulmate. He knows this, he’s loved her since the first moment he saw her. When he lets go she will understand he did this to protect her, that they’re meant to be together.

When he lets go she is dead, and he knows now that he was wrong.

***

Saving Oswald feels like a gift. He asks him if he believes in fate and feels like he’s been delivered his soulmate at last.

Doubt sets in when Oswald does not seem reciprocate, perhaps Ed should have taken his initial disposition as a sign? Oswald is incarcerated and Ed goes to see him. They hold their hands together through the glass and Ed will wait, he decides.

But Jim Gordon won’t wait, and Ed is in the process of dealing with him when Oswald shows up at his door.

It is both Oswald and not. Whomever this man is, he is not Ed’s. He’s a frightening spectre of Ed’s soulmate. Ed turns him away. His presence frightens him, his very existence representing to Ed that drugs and doctors could change someone into something they’re not. Ed focuses on dealing with Jim Gordon. He will fix Oswald later, coax him back into his old self.

***

He doesn’t get the chance. Oswald fixes himself while Ed is doing his own time in Arkham. 

Oswald visits him and brings him things, and Ed is so grateful he’s bursting. But the walls of the Asylum keep him pressurized with the boredom and severity of it. He asks Oswald why he’s being so kind and he wants Oswald to tell him it’s because he feels it too, finally, that their meeting was fate.

He doesn’t, but that’s fine. Ed’s sentence is indefinite and as long as Oswald’s keeps visiting him he has no desire to push the issue.

***

Oswald frees him from that place, takes him into his home, dresses him in fine clothes. Ed is so sure Oswald is going to finally realize when they’re on the campaign trail. Ed stays by his side, lovingly paying attention to every detail of their operation. 

He doesn’t.

He’s sure when Oswald wins the election, when Ed tells him his love riddle and traces a heart in front of his face. Ed has made this election worth something, worth Elijah’s legacy. It was what Oswald deserved, it was Ed’s gift to him to know that the people truly loved him. He sees the realization come over his face.

But it isn’t the right one.

Ed is sure when he exposes Butch, protecting Oswald from harm and delivering the traitor who desecrated his mother’s statue. Oswald says nothing in the club, making sure Ed is seen to and ushering him to the manor. He makes him tea and sits beside him on the couch. Ed knows they’re on the same page now, telling Oswald he’ll do anything for him.

Oswald leans in and Ed braces for true love's first kiss but is met with a hug instead.

Oswald never realizes. It’s just as well. If he doesn’t feel the same as Ed then maybe they just aren’t as meant to be as he thought.

***

When he meets Isabella he knows why he was mistaken the first time, why he was mistaken with Oswald. He was closer to the mark with Kristen, a woman of similar looks and interests as Isabella, but not quite there. This time it’s the real deal. This time there won’t be any mistakes. But when he sees her wearing glasses he feels doubt. He needs to leave her, he can’t make the same mistakes again. Isabella is too good to be true.

He wants to leave her, to leave her before he hurts her and proves that she is not his soulmate either.

She won’t let him, she puts his hands around her throat and tells him she knows he won’t hurt her. He doesn’t, instead he kisses her. 

Afterwards he feels lighter than air, the knowledge that he can never kill her brings him solace.

Then she dies, and he knows that this is the universe’s punishment for taking someone else’s soulmate from them. For killing Kristen, because he didn’t know she wasn’t his. His life from here on will be nothing but misery, no hope for another chance in this lifetime.

Oswald is there for him, and he promises Ed revenge when Ed pieces together that it was not the machinations of the universe that ended Isabella’s life, but Butch Gilzean.

Ed takes Butch and his lover Tabitha and ensnares them in a trap. When Butch dies he will die knowing that Tabitha is not his soulmate.

She cannot depress the trigger. She loses the hand that betrayed her but gains a soulmate.

He’s made another mistake.

***

Barbara tells him it was Oswald and it leaves him in disbelief. Oswald did not love him. He had made that very clear.

But he has to know, he has to ask.

Oswald gives him the answer, and the answer is shocking, it is disappointing, it is infuriating.

Ed decides that it isn’t true. That it couldn’t possibly be true, because that makes more sense.

Isabella was his soulmate, she had proven it the night she died. Oswald had taken that from him, it isn’t real. Oswald’s feelings _couldn’t_ be real.

There is only one way to prove it.

***

Ed is methodical as he takes down Oswald. He wants to prove that Oswald couldn’t possibly love him like he claimed before his takes his life. Ed will know he’s right just by virtue of Oswald being dead by his hand. The problem with that solution is that Oswald will be quite dead at that point, and unable to fully appreciate the gravitas of it all. He needs to show Oswald beforehand, so he dies knowing that he ruined their lives for nothing, ruined the trust and friendship between them for _nothing_.

When Oswald refuses to trade his life for Ed’s it is confusing. It is also disappointing.

It means that Oswald will only have a few moments to process the fact that Ed is not his soulmate, the fleeting moments before death but after Ed puts a bullet in him. Only a few moments to process all that his actions have truly cost him. A pity, Ed was hoping to give him more time to let it sink in. To destroy him utterly.

Ed takes him to the docks and points a gun in his face. Then at his heart. He’s had enough of Oswald’s talk.

He killed Ed’s soulmate and he _has_ to die.

His aim lowers, he squeezes the trigger. And squeezes. 

The gun fires, and a very small part of Ed that was still holding out hope is saddened that he was right, that Oswald is not his soulmate. He watches him bleed, he pulls Oswald to him and then pushes him into the watery depths of the river.

Now he knows for sure.

Oswald was not the one.

***

He still sees him every day, after that. Perhaps this is his new punishment.

***

Strange gives him a mission. Find Edward Nygma. Incapacitate him. Bring him here.

Oswald wants to kill him when he sees him, but Strange has been good to him. He has taught him and given him many gifts. Oswald will do as he says.

When Edward Nygma sees him he does not seem surprised. Oswald touches him, and that changes. Now that Oswald is close enough to grasp him he is no trouble at all to take down. He is easy compared to the practice Oswald has had before this.

Unconscious now, Oswald puts him over his shoulder.

Strange told him that before Oswald was in his care, his crooked leg pained him greatly, and he was weak. In their sessions Strange tells him there is no pain, that he is strong, that he is a weapon, and Oswald feels it is so.

His leg does not pain him despite its twists and his body is stronger than it has any right being, because he believes it so.

Strange has given him many gifts, and he will pay him back by bringing Edward Nygma to him.

And _then_ killing him.

***

Edward wakes in a small room. The walls and tiles are white, and he thinks of Indian Hill. Maybe he is still there, in Arkham, and it was all a dream. Oswald is still alive. 

He feels a bruise where Oswald hit him. So it wasn’t a dream, and yet Oswald _is_ alive. Impossible. Ed killed him himself.

“Hello, Edward,” Oswald says. Ed doesn’t move. Doesn’t speak.

“What do you have to say to me, _old friend_.” 

“You never call me Edward,” he says, lacking anything else of worth to contribute.

“Well that might have been true before,” Oswald says. “Your killing me hasn’t exactly made me fond enough of you to start bestowing _nicknames_.”

“So you did die,” Ed says, reassuring himself. He was right. _He was right._ He’d bet Strange had something to do with his resurrection.

“You know, I don’t quite remember. But I can put two and two together.”

“What do you want?” Ed says.

“Finally!” Oswald exclaims. “Now you’re asking the right questions. You see, Edward, I’m here to kill you. Isn’t that exciting?”

“For you or for me?” Ed deadpans.

“Were you always like this? Doesn’t matter, you’ll be dead soon enough.”

“I deserve it.” Ed says.

“What?” he asks sharply. Oswald hesitates. Ed had killed him in cold blood, betrayed him. That’s what Strange had said.

“I felt guilty, afterwards. You had to die to make things right, but.... You were right, you helped make me, you understand me better than anyone.”

“What are you talking about?” Oswald says, “You’re trying to trick me.”

“ _Kill him now_.” A voice commands from above. Ed can tell it’s been heavily modulated.

“Oswald, wait, what do you remember?” Ed says. Oswald didn’t remember their last conversation? Strange has done something to him, he can tell. He thought Oswald was joking earlier, but if he truly doesn’t remember, then perhaps Ed can trigger the love Oswald was feeling for him before he died and escape this unscathed. If nothing else, it will be disorienting for him and give Ed an advantage. It’s clear that Oswald’s is under someone else’s influence right now, that he doesn't have the full picture.

“Enough,” Oswald says “You die now.” Oswald has a small knife, and he charges Ed with it. Ed ducks out of the way and rolls. He needs to make Oswald remember, and quickly.

“Oswald, we were best friends once, we can be that again.”

“Don’t lie to me,” Oswald says. “Hold still!” Ed avoids a swing but ends up with his back to the wall. Oswald approaches, cornering him, but Ed feints one direction and dives the other.

“You told me you loved me, is that not true anymore?”

“I,” Oswald says, hesitating. Confusion is written all over his face. “I what?”

“You don’t remember that?” Ed says. “You claimed you loved me but you betrayed me, that’s why I killed you, Oswald.”

“ _Finish him._ ”

Oswald shakes himself off. “Strange said you would try to trick me. But you killed me, Edward Nygma, and now you’re going to die for the privilege.”

Ed’s luck runs out, he’s too slow this time. He takes a defensive wound to the forearm from Oswald’s knife and is pinned to the floor.

Oswald raises the knife.

“This isn’t you,” Ed tells him, “you loved me.”

“I used to,” Oswald hisses, bringing the knife down. It stops an inch above Ed’s heart. He swings again. And again. And again. The blade never touches Ed.

“That’s impossible,” Ed whispers. “I killed you.”

“This doesn't make sense,” Oswald wails, “That’s not fair!”

Ed sees his opportunity. He wrestles the knife from Oswald, emboldened by the fact that his adversary can hurt him but not kill him. Ed holds the knife between them, keeping Oswald at a distance even as he remains above him. Oswald can still hurt him, Ed’s arm bleeds freely with the evidence of that.

“Do it,” Oswald says. “I’d rather die than live a life as the only man alive with an unrequited soulmate.”

“No,” Ed says, lowering the knife, “I _can’t_ kill you.”

“You already did it once!”

“Did I?” Ed asks, a sudden realization overtaking him. He feels sick. If he’s right then… he _needs_ to know. “You need to remember Oswald, what happened?”

“I can’t!” Oswald howls. “He did something to me!”

“ _Consider this your debriefing._ ” Strange says, the modulation gone. Ed isn’t even happy to be right. “ _Oswald, you never died. Fate conspired to keep you alive. Miss Mooney was watching you closely. We saved you, and in doing so I saw an opportunity. Could a person robbed of their identity and infused with a bitter hatred of their soulmate kill them in cold blood? You’ve answered my question. It is not our identity that matters; the soul knows what is planned. For this illumination, I thank you. But you are of no use to me now. Miss Mooney wishes you well. Goodbye.”_

Gas floods the room from one corner. Ed supposes it doesn't matter now what Oswald remembers. He has his answer. Tears begin forming in his eyes. He’s made so many mistakes. Oswald starts to get up, probably to get away from the gas, but Ed stops him. 

“Fish wants you alive, it’s nonlethal.” Ed doesn’t say that she probably doesn’t care if Ed lives and will kill him once they’re unconscious. “I was wrong, and I’m so sorry. For everything.”

“I don’t know who Fish is, but Ed, if you’re not lying and I betrayed you… I must have deserved whatever you did to me.” The white gas is swirling closer. He looks frantic, trapped, but he stays with Ed.

“You didn’t, not if you’re my soulmate,” Ed says. And Oswald _is_ his soulmate.

“May I kiss you?” Oswald asks, still crouched over Ed and bending slightly lower. “If this kills us, and you’re really my soulmate and all, it would be a shame that I didn’t get to kiss you after everything.”

“Yes,” Ed tells him, and when their lips meet Ed is still confused about how he was right and then wrong but somehow this is still right again. Gas swirls under his nose, he loses his grip on Oswald, and everything fades to black.

*** 

Oswald wakes up in the room with no light and no peace.

“Ugly duckling,” Strange tells him. 

It comes slowly at first, then like the flick of a switch.

He _remembers_.

***

Ed wakes up on his back in a familiar bed, in a familiar manor. He’s fully dressed, but someone has taken off his shoes and glasses. His arm is bandaged.

“Oswald?” he calls, reaching for his glasses on the bedside table. He puts his shoes on. “Oswald?”

Ed leaves the room, heading for the salon. Oswald is pacing to and fro, his old limp back. When he first confronted Ed it had been absent. Ed’s hallucinations of him had lacked a limp as well. It was part of the reason Ed hadn’t been tipped off by his presence at first.

Oswald turns, biting at his nails. He quickly lowers them.

“I remember everything now. Strange undid all the hypnosis, the layers of it. He explained it to me, told me he repressed my memories and my pain. It’s all back now. He let us go, and Fish sends her congratulations, by the way. You were still unconscious when he finished with me. I hope you don’t mind that I brought you here, I don’t know where you’ve been staying while I was… away.” Oswald turns and takes a long sip from a glass of wine.

“Do you regret it?” Ed asks him.

“What?”

“Do you regret kissing me, since neither of us died and now we’re here and that’s the last thing between us.”

Oswald’s mouth tightens and he takes another sip of wine. “I want to be angry with you for shooting me.”

“But you’re not,” Ed says.

“I’m not,” Oswald nods. “I was right, and you shot me, and I should be furious.” He puts the glass down.

“But Strange had me convinced I was wrong about us all along, that we weren’t soulmates and you had killed me. It was bleak. Miserable. I felt like I had nothing left to live for except to exact revenge upon you. Of course, I had no idea I once thought you were my soulmate, I just... I felt so empty when he was grooming me. I thought it was the memory loss alone but… it was you, too. I was missing you and I couldn’t even remember what I had lost. It was so much deeper than the betrayal of a friend had ever felt, but I didn’t know what else it could be, I never imagined having a _soulmate_.” He turns away and Ed sees him wipe his eyes. His own feel suspiciously damp.

Oswald continues, “I’m just so glad you don’t hate me… That you’re here. No, I don’t regret kissing you. I only regret that I’ve done things to hurt you, and that you’ll probably never allow me the privilege of kissing you again because of it.”

“Oswald.” He turns back around, and Ed doesn't actually know what to say. He walks forwards and takes both of Oswald’s hands in his. “I’ve hurt you, and for that I’m ashamed. We’ve both made mistakes. Let’s start over, let this be a second chance.”

“That sound… amenable,” Oswald says, the guilt and shame of hurting his soulmate lessening now that he realizes Ed feels that same weight. He’d said as much when they were with Strange, he recalls. “Ed, for what it’s worth, I feel the same way about hurting you. Ashamed. Starting over feels like more than I deserve.”

“I don’t think that I deserve to have this either,” Ed tells him conspiratorially.

“So neither of us deserve each other,” Oswald says, figuring out his game.

“I guess not,” Ed says, his tone contrastingly chipper to the meaning of his words.

“Well I want you anyways,” Oswald concludes, playing along. “And I always get what I want.”

“I want you too. You can have me... if you’d like, that is,” Ed tacks on nervously.

“I already said I’d like that. So, we’re in agreement, then. Neither of us deserve this but we’re going to do it anyways,” Oswald pronounces with a smile, squeezing Ed’s hands.

“Yes, that sounds about right,” Ed says, smiling gently back at him.

“Good,” Oswald says. Ed coughs and clear his throat.

“Since we’re… starting over,” Ed begins hesitantly. He takes a deep breath to calm himself, remembering a time before everything became so complicated, before he got so mixed up, before doubt caused him to lose sight of what he _knew_ to be true.

“Do you believe in fate?”

**Author's Note:**

> Did you like it? I liked the ending. Tell me about it in the comments.


End file.
